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If you’re reading this and are one of the millions of people on Facebook, there’s a very good chance that you’ve seen a sponsored or “boosted” post of ours on the site. Even though we have nearly 1.4 million fans (and rapidly growing), publishers like TPG need to pay Facebook to get our content in front of the people who want to read it.

While Facebook advertising isn’t cheap, it’s a highly effective way for us to grow our readership and fanbase and get you the content most relevant to you. And for me, it’s been the biggest boon of my points-earning career because Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all take credit cards! And not only that, there are credit cards with lucrative bonuses for online advertising spend, so my #1 source of points earning is from online advertising. If you advertise online, whether Google or Facebook, you should be maximizing your spend to get the most points possible — never pay by invoice or wire transfer!

Charge cards offer way more flexibility in spending. Unlike credit cards, charge cards don’t have preset spending limits; instead, your transactions are approved on a case-by-case basis, and you have to pay the bill in full each month. This is ideal for businesses that are spending large amounts every month on advertising, airfare and more.

2. Credit Benefit

Charging large purchases and carrying massive balances on a personal card can decrease your credit score. When you open a business card it sits on a line of credit that is separate from your personal credit line so utilization and other factors shouldn’t affect your personal credit score.

3. Lucrative Category Bonuses

The Amex Business Gold Card lets you choose one category to earn 3x Membership Rewards per dollar, and that bonus can really add up. Once you sign up, you can choose from one of these five categories:

Airfare purchased directly from airlines

US purchases for advertising in select media

US purchases at gas stations

US purchases for shipping

US computer hardware, software and cloud computing purchases made directly from select providers.

You can earn 3x on one category, 2x points on the other four and 1x points on all other purchases.

Upon signing up for the card, you’ll be able to select which category with which you want to earn 3x points, and the remaining four categories will earn you 2x per dollar and you’ll earn 1x points on all other purchases. So because I selected advertising as my category, all Facebook, Google and Twitter ads count as purchases to earn that bonus. Even though you can only earn up to $100,000 in spend with the 3x bonus, that’s 300,000 Membership Rewards points — worth $5,700 based on my most recent valuations.

If I were to only earn 1x points on those same advertising purchases, I’d have 100,000 points versus the 300,000 I’ll get with Business Gold — a pretty stark difference. The difference in points earned makes this card a no-brainer, considering the annual fee is just $175, which is waived the first year.

The Card

Amex BGR comes with a sign-up bonus of 50,000 points after you spend $5,000 in the first three months. Note that there are 75,000-point sign-up bonus offers out there, so if you’re targeted you’ll want to go with that option instead.

I was instantly approved for my second Business Gold Rewards Card.

To add to the valuable points-earning categories with the card, I was approved for a second Business Gold card for my side business. While I won’t get the 50,000 point sign-up bonus on the second card, I’m excited to continue maximizing the 3x category spend bonus.

The Amex OPEN Savings program can be a valuable tool for small business owners, as it gives you access to discounts or bonus points for purchases made with select merchants. If you’re enrolled in the program with Business Gold, you can get an additional 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent OR a 5% discount as a statement credit with eligible OPEN Savings partners.

Now that Amex has added a 5x bonus on airfare purchases with The Platinum Card, I’ll be charging flights on that card so that’s one category I won’t max out with Business Gold. But if you were to max out all five categories, you could earn 1,100,000 Membership Rewards Points — worth $20,900 based on my most recent valuations — plus any points you’d earn with the 1x point bonus.

Bottom Line

Based on what your business is spending, Business Gold is a no-brainer — especially with the 50,000-point sign-up bonus. The bonus categories and the OPEN Savings program, coupled with the superior customer service of Amex, make the benefits of the card far outweigh the small annual fee.

The Business Gold Card is a mainstay with me for my business expenses. Even though I may not carry it in my wallet everyday, it’s used (including spend by the authorized cardholders on the account) for much of TPG’s expenses. It’s nice to have a Membership Rewards balance in the seven figures because there are so many ways to use Amex points.

The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN

Though the Business Gold Rewards card doesn’t have the benefits package of the more premium Business Platinum Card, it also doesn’t have that card’s $450 annual fee. In fact, the $175 annual fee on this one is waived the first year, so getting it is like a risk-free trial of its benefits plus it comes with appealing bonus spending categories like 3x on the category of choice and a range of 2x spending categories as well.

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Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Advertiser Disclosure

The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Please view our advertising policy page for more information.

Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Please view our advertising policy page for more information.

Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.